Edgewalkers are people who walk between worlds and are the ones who create the leading edge. They are the people the world needs today, in the face of problems that cannot be solved by logic and analysis alone. This blog explores the latest thinking about Edgewalkers.

Monday, December 07, 2015

I want to share an article I wrote for our local newspaper recently, in response to the multiple terror attacks.

Choose Love Not Fear

How
do people of faith make sense of the horror of terrorism attacks in Paris,
Lebanon, Syria, Russia and so many places around the world? These are questions
I am dealing with right now, especially because I have friends in Paris, and
because I had a wonderful trip there a year ago, where my only concern was
pickpockets.The spiritual principle for
me in this context is “Choose love, not fear.”For me, God is love, and fear is an expression of not trusting God’s
greater good.

When I find myself fearful, which happens
more than I would like to admit, I try to remember to choose love, and not give
into fear. The descriptions in the news of the actions of the terrorists in
Paris did evoke fear in me.It made me
wonder if I would ever want to go to Paris again. Or New York.Or London.Or any other place that I imagine a terrorist might want to attack.And I can easily slip into thinking of the
shootings in theaters, churches, schools, and the Oklahoma City bombing.Or closer to home, I think about the student
who killed a professor in his office in the building next to where I used to
work at the University of Arkansas.It’s
so easy to be afraid.But that is not
what spiritual traditions teach us.

In the Bible, every time an angel
appears to a prophet or to someone like Mary, the angel says “fear not.”Melinda Martin, a minister’s wife in Texas,
went through her concordance and found that “fear not” is listed 80+ times, and
other similar phrases such as “be not afraid” are used 30+ times.Some examples are:

“And the angel answered and
said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was
crucified (Matthew 28:5).”
“But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and
thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John (Luke
1:13).”

The Hebrew Bible offers
this spiritual guidance:“Be not afraid
of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh (Proverbs
3:25).”What an interesting phrase
“Desolation of the wicked.”A definition
of desolation is “a state of complete emptiness or destruction.”The etomology of the word is from Latin, desolare, ‘to abandon.’ But who or what
is abandoned when a person or group willingly causes desolation?Perhaps they have abandoned God, or feel
abandoned by a materialistic society, or perhaps they have abandoned their own
soul. I can read it this word as ‘de-soul-ation,’ even though this is incorrect
etomologically.It might be correct theologically.Somehow these individuals have lost their own
soul in the willingness to create terror and havoc among their human brothers
and sisters.

Can my understanding from
this perspective lead me to more compassion for people who commit heinous acts?I wish I could say I was there, and I hope to
get there someday.I still find myself
in grief and feeling empathy for the innocent victims of these acts.Perhaps over time, or as I evolve on my
spiritual path, compassion for terrorists and other perpetrators of violence
will come to me more naturally and more quickly.

After 9/11, the Dalai Lama
said, “Terrorism cannot be overcome by the use of force because it does not
address the complex underlying problems. In fact the use of force may not only
fail to solve the problems, it may exacerbate them and frequently leaves
destruction and suffering in its wake.Human conflicts should be resolved with compassion.The key is non-violence…I would also like to
point out that talk of nonviolence when things are going smoothly is not of
much relevance.It is precisely when
things become really difficult, urgent and critical that we should think and
act nonviolently.”

In response to questions
about the Paris attacks, the Dalai Lama has a very interesting perspective on
how to take spiritual action.He said
during an interview, “We cannot solve this problem only through prayers. I
am a Buddhist and I believe in praying. But humans have created this
problem, and now we are asking God to solve it. It is illogical. God would say,
solve it yourself because you created it in the first place.”

I am not an
expert on international relations or on Middle East history or in any other
field that would allow me to offer suggestions to leaders about how to solve
this problem.I don’t have the answers.What I hold onto is the belief that humanity
is evolving, as Teilhard de Chardin explains so eloquently, and that there is a
very large body of evidence that we collectively are getting less violent each
century, decade and year.Steven Pinker,
a professor at Harvard University, has documented the decline of violence from
Biblical times to the present and says, “we are living in the most peaceful
time in our species’ existence.”It’s
difficult to believe this if you spend a lot of time reading the news, but the
fact is – violence sells.However, it is
not the way most humans conduct themselves in the world.

The news is not
likely to guide us in seeing acts of kindness and compassion in the world, so
its up to us individually and collectively to see and foster compassion where
ever we can – to choose love, not fear.Fayetteville has been designated as a Compassionate City by the
International Campaign for Compassionate Communities. Compassion Fayetteville
focuses on documenting daily acts of kindness.“Seek and ye shall find (Matthew 7:7).”“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of
love, and of a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7).”There are many opportunities every day to choose love not fear.By paying attention to this choice, we can
move towards more love in the world.That is the best way I know of, in this moment, to combat
terrorism.It’s not much, but it’s all
I’ve got.

Dr.
Judi Neal is the Chairman and CEO of Edgewalkers International, a consulting
firm focused on workplace spirituality.She is the author of four books, including Edgewalkers, and Creating
Enlightened Organizations.

About Me

I received my Ph.D. in organizational behavior from Yale University in 1985 and was a manager of organizational development and training for Honeywell in the 1980s. I am Professor Emeritus at the University of New Haven and was the founding director of the Tyson Center for Faith and Spirituality in the Workplace at the University of Arkansas. I am currently Chairman and CEO of Edgewalkers International, and am the author of four books, including the book "Edgewalkers."